Health care breach victims plummet

Tougher rules and big settlements are said to be behind the fall in affected clients, but one group calls it the 'calm before the storm'

"But health care records certainly do provide as target-rich environment for folks looking to use records for non-financial illicit purposes," he added.

However, Redspin said medical information will be moving up on the hit list of hackers.

"[Hacker] attacks are likely to increase in frequency over the next few years," Redspin said. "Personal health records are high value targets for cybercriminals as they can be exploited for identify theft, insurance fraud, stolen prescriptions, and dangerous hoaxes.

"We expect that the low incidence rate of hacking during the past few years was the calm before the storm," it added.